Jalpaiguri: The Bengal government is working on a number of
proposals to expedite the socio-economic development of adivasis and
Gorkhas in the Dooars and the Terai, sources said on Monday.
The
plans include induction of representatives of the two areas into 15
development boards which the state has formed for different communities
in the Darjeeling hills and increase in the power, funds and number of
members at the tribal and Gorkha task forces formed for the uplift of
the two communities in the Dooars and the Terai.
"A meeting was
held in Calcutta on Monday, wherein minister Aroop Biswas discussed a
number of proposals to improve the condition of adivasis and Gorkhas in
the Dooars and the Terai with Alipurduar zilla parishad sabhadhipati
Mohan Sharma and Alipurduar MLA Sourav Chakraborty," said a source.
Both Sharma and Chakraborty are prominent Trinamul leaders of the Dooars.
The proposals have come up a few days after most Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha leaders and their followers in the plains switched to Trinamul.
"Their
defection has been a major blow for the BJP and the Morcha. It would
largely help Trinamul in the upcoming elections to rural bodies," said a
Trinamul insider.
The state government had formed the Task Force
for Upliftment of Dooars Terai Tribals and the Task Force for
Upliftment of Dooars Terai Gorkhas.
Both the forces have eight
members and are headed by Birsa Tirkey, the state president of the Akhil
Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and Binod Ghatani, a former Morcha
leader of the Dooars who is in Trinamul now.
Tirkey and Ghatani
have said they lack necessary infrastructure and powers under the north
Bengal development department. Each task force has been given Rs 5 crore
to carry out development works.
Tirkey said he wanted the number of members of the task force to be increased.
Apart
from the two bodies, there is also the Terai Dooars Adivasi Development
Task Force headed by Wilson Champramari, the Trinamul MLA of Kalchini.
The Telegraph
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